1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an external terminal control apparatus communicably connected to an external apparatus and controls the external apparatus, and a control method thereof. In particular, the present invention relates to an external terminal control apparatus that acquires information about an external terminal and displays a status of the external terminal or operates the external terminal, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is an external terminal control apparatus that is connected to an external terminal, such as a printer, that can communicate with the terminal control apparatus, and displays information stored in the external terminal or operates the external terminal. An example of an external terminal control apparatus is a personal computer (PC).
Moreover, in recent years, a television printer that is connected to and can communicate with a digital television (DTV) is in market. Such a television printer can print a print content included in digital broadcasting that is received by the DTV. In the Japanese market, Digital TV Informatization Research Group (http://nw-dtv.jp/) formulates terminal specifications and communication specifications of DTVs and television printers, and specification for information transmitted and received between DTVs and television printers. Such specifications are issued by the Digital TV Informatization Research Group as documents, e.g., a Net TV terminal specification and a Net TV guideline. Manufacturers of DTVs and printers conduct research and development of products conforming to the contents of such documents.
According to the released Net TV terminal specification version 2.0, a printer is required to provide an index page to a Net TV terminal, e.g., DTV. The index page of a Net TV terminal is described in a HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Consequently, an HTML page which is designated by the index page or a linked page of an HTML page provides the DTV with functions for displaying a printer status, setting a print condition, or executing a maintenance function. That is, the index page and the linked page to the index page configure a menu screen that displays various operations and status of a printer for a user. As described above, a printer holds a menu screen for a Net TV terminal as file data which is described in a markup language.
A DTV, or a Net TV terminal, includes a browser that interprets and displays an HTML file. Further, a DTV acquires an index page stored in a printer and displays the index page on a television screen through the browser. A user uses a remote controller to jump to an index page or to a page linked to the index page, or input an operation that can be executed on each page.
In a case where a DTV that conforms to Net TV specification is connected to a printer, the DTV uses a presentation uniform resource identifier (URI) to acquire from the printer a uniform resource locator (URL) or address information of an index page. That is, the printer notifies the DTV of the URL of the index page.
The DTV stores the acquired URL of the index page in a manageable storage area. An operation menu screen of the DTV includes menu items that are used to operate an external terminal. When a user selects a printer from the menu items, the DTV reads out the stored URL of the index page and issues a command to the printer for acquiring the index page. Upon acquiring the index page in HTML form from the printer, the DTV activates the browser and interprets and displays the index page.
FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a menu that is displayed as described above. If a user selects a menu item “external terminal operation” in an operation menu screen 1301 of a DTV, the DTV displays an external terminal list screen 1302 that lists external terminals connected to the DTV. If the user then selects “printer” 1303 which conforms to the Net TV specification, the DTV requests a printer to acquire an HTML file corresponding to an index page, using an URL of the index page previously stored in the DTV. An index page 1304 is then rendered based on the acquired HTML file and displayed on the browser of the DTV. As described above, the index page 1304 is a menu screen of the printer.
In FIG. 13, the browser displays a print status page that indicates a status of the printer and cartridges as an index page. If a user selects a link to “maintenance” 1305 by operating on a remote controller, the browser, by using a URL of a linked page that is described in an HTML file of the index page, issues a command to the printer to acquire an HTML file of the linked page.
That is, the DTV does not store a menu described in a markup language that is included in the printer. The DTV only holds a URL of the index page 1304 of the printer and cannot directly access the linked pages that are related to the index page.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-177586 discusses a remote control apparatus that consolidates menu information of a plurality of external terminals. The remote control apparatus acquires menu information and control information of each of the external terminals, and hierarchically holds the acquired menu information and control information. Moreover, in a case where the remote control apparatus acquires new menu information and control information, the remote control apparatus restructures the stored menu information and control information according to a rule.
As described above, according to the present Net TV specification, a DTV only holds the URL of the index page of a printer. As a result, if a user wishes to display other operation menus that are linked to an index page, the user needs to acquire a menu screen stored in a printer after selecting an external terminal menu. The user then needs to trace menus to the desired operation, step by step, from the index page.
Moreover, a DTV holds menu screens and menu items for maintenance and various settings of the DTV. Consequently, a user may misunderstand that menu items for maintenance and various settings of a printer are also included in the menu screen for maintenance and various settings specific to the DTV. However, according to the present Net TV specification, a DTV maintenance menu and a printer menu will not be integrated. Therefore, a user needs to always be conscious of a terminal that the user wishes to operate and start operation from selecting a menu of the terminal.
For example, in a case where a user buys a DTV and a printer and makes respective settings, the user needs to always start from an external terminal menu to approach a menu item for setting the printer, even if there are similar menu items between the DTV and the printer. Therefore, the present Net TV specification does not realize user-friendliness.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-177586 discusses a solution to the above-described problem. However, the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-177586 is based on the premise that operation menus of external terminals are integratably structured in a remote controller. For example, each external terminal needs to be designed based on a rule that a menu is to be described in a markup language specified for creating the menu. That is, an external terminal which is not designed for integration cannot perform menu integration discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-177586.
Further, a remote controller discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-177586 holds a menu that is structured according to each terminal, such as a television or a video recorder. Therefore, a remote controller must establish a menu for each terminal, even if there is a common menu item between the terminals, e.g., a maintenance menu. Thus, a user needs to always be conscious of the terminal that the user wishes to operate and to start operation from selecting a menu of the terminal. Therefore, the above-described problem of the NET TV specification is not solved.